Authorities with the Tarrant County medical examiner's officer began to remove the bodies from the mortuary this afternoon.

The owner of a Fort Worth mortuary where police say they found several unattended and unidentified bodies Tuesday insists it’s all a misunderstanding.

“We’ve done nothing wrong,” said Dondre Johnson, who runs the Johnson Family Mortuary. “This is a funeral home. This is where we keep bodies.”

Johnson said his landlord called police this morning after finding seven bodies inside the building on Handley Drive in East Fort Worth. He said some of the dead are already embalmed and in caskets, one of them bound for Nairobi, Kenya.

“Things happen in life,” he said of the investigation. “Pray for us.”

Dondre’s brother Derrick, who says he runs a limousine business, said the bodies were well-preserved, but a foul odor emanated from the building.

Police say the owner of the building asked the renters to leave two weeks ago. This morning, the owner checked on the property and found the business had been left unattended with multiple dead bodies inside, authorities say.

Officers are still searching the funeral home, and officials from the medical examiner’s office began removing the bodies this afternoon. The charge on the search warrant is abuse of corpse, said Sgt. Raymond Bush, a Fort Worth police spokesman.

Bush said it’s too early in the investigation to release the condition of the bodies or how long they were left unattended. The electricity and air conditioning were still on inside the building. The main concern at this point is to return the bodies to the families.

“That’s our priority to find closure for the families,” Bush said.

Any family members concerned about their loved ones’ remains should call the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office at 817-920-5700, Ext. 5.

The Johnson Family Mortuary, started by twin brothers Derrick and Dondre, has had an active funeral director’s license with the state since July 2011 and is current through the end of this month. The funeral home has no previous disciplinary history with the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Benetha Johnson said she worked with the Johnson brothers previously. She described them as good people.

“They are some good young men,” she said. “I just don’t know why this happened.”

Johnson said she’d heard there were two funerals at the building Saturday.

Another bystander said the Johnson family had always been helpful to grieving families. The brothers put on the funeral for one of Denise Horrice’s family members.

“I’m surprised because they are really good people,” she said. “I can’t say nothing bad about them.”

The Johnson twins began working in the business when they were 11, according to the business’s website. Later they were mentored by noted Fort Worth pastor and funeral director Gregory Spencer, who was found strangled at an Arlington motel in June 2003 (a Louisiana parolee was sentenced to life in prison for the murder).

Three years later the twins struck out on their own, turning an abandoned casket store into the D & D Johnson Funeral Home, and later Johnson Family Mortuary.

“Both locally and abroad, ‘The Twins,’ as they are fondly referred, have raised the bar of funeral service,” their website says. “Their presentation is unparalleled and their service is incomparable.”

There are five complaints currently open against Johnson Family Mortuary, though officials with the commission can’t talk about them until they are closed. Two of three previous complaints were closed without findings of wrongdoing. The third, filed over a late death certificate, resulted in a probationary penalty.

Staff writer Jon McClure contributed to this report.

Police were called to the Johnson Family Mortuary about 8 a.m. Tuesday. (Photos by Lara Solt/Staff Photographer)

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